Welcome to Texas justice: You might beat the rap, but you won't beat the ride.

Monday, February 07, 2011

'Bout damn time

Six years after the alleged offenses, jury selection begins today for former TYC administrator John Paul Hernandez. Following Ray Brookins' conviction last year, this trial will hopefully place a final, if ugly coda on the saga that began in January 2007 with publication of Nate Blakeslee's exposé in the Texas Observer. The structural and policy ramifications for juvenile justice from the episode, however, are still strongly reverberating. Only time will tell whether continuing, radical changes at the agency will prevent similar, future incidents, or even if the agency will still exist by year's end.

57 comments:

In 120+ years of cultivating an abusive culture, there has only been 2 people that I’m aware of convicted of crimes against the kids. May this chester be number 3, ‘iff’ he is truly guilty. As long as it took to bring him to trial, and tyc historic professionalism in covering up, he most likely is guilty.

I’ve written this before, I truly believe that unless you are in or have been in the game, a person really can’t fully understand/appreciate the real culture of tyc. This same culture Judge Justice tried to shut down, but instead spread it to the boys home at Giddings and eventually to the other schools. When Mountain View closed to move in the TDC women, the boys were moved to Hackberry school at Gatesville. A year later the Mountain View boys at Hackberry moved to Giddings while many of the boys at Terrace and Sycamore were moved to West Texas children’s home. Thus turning a boys children’s home into the correction facility Mountain View was.

If a person wants to understand how we got where we are today, one only need look to the past. Something I think tyc likes to gloss over in the hopes people tend to forget. If one would like a better understanding of Giddings, knowing about Mountain View would give the researcher a few “ah ha!” moments. The museum in Gatesville has a ton of great stuff from the Kendrick collection about Mountain View. Mostly positive spin hype, opening day, bla bla bla. The trial transcripts from Morales Verse turdman paint a more realistic picture, albeit toned down for polite society. Again I emphasize, only someone who has been in the game could read the Mvt transcript and truthfully say it was very toned down compared to the reality of the tyc culture on the ground. It may be the reason a conviction of a tyc staff is so difficult to obtain because the atrocities against the children committed by staff are so unimaginable. You tyc people know what I’m talking about. It’s been you’re best defense for decades. “The kids lie, how could you think we could do such a thing.” Many of you people can, do, and cover it up! Its you’re world, wallow well.

It should be painfully obvious by now, that a TYC unit is an example of what happens when you offer such a low salary for a certain job, that only the dregs of society will apply. Then, when you finally have to offer a high enough salary for a certain position to get someone qualified, you run them off because they get tired of trying to do a good job, which conflicts with the sloppy job being done by the screw-ups you normally keep hiring.

Now, when it comes to TYC's top administration, it's a polar opposite. The state offers great salaries, but keeps giving positions of authority to good ol' boys who couldn't get anything done if they tried.

Agreed, these administrators should be tried...but what about the AG, what about the Governor? How long did this sickening scandal get shoved under the rug? That's the most egregious crime. Who is really responsible for letting it go on? Too bad the Justice Dept. won't step in and deal with it.

And the reason it was ignored for so long...even after many complaints were made....Who is going to believe these kids? Who cares about these kids? Certainly not the Governor or the AG. There will be a day of reckoning.

TYC = Paradise for pedophiles? I am hardly surprised with news from the past several years that TDCJ has employed felons as Corrections Officers.

GRITS, did I read, within the last couple of years, where DPS applicants for State Trooper positions were NOT screened for felonies? Perhaps Don will remember this story. I could swear it ran in either the STATESMAN or DALLAS MORNING NEWS.

Traffic and Criminal Records: DisqualifiersAny of the following will disqualify the applicant:

Having been on or currently on court-ordered supervision or probation for any offense of the grade of felony or Class A misdemeanor; Having been convicted of any offense of the grade of felony or Class A misdemeanor; Having been on or currently on court-ordered supervision or probation for any criminal offense of the grade of Class B misdemeanor within the last ten years; Having been convicted of an offense of the grade of a Class B misdemeanor within the last ten years; Having been convicted of a family violence offense; Currently being under indictment; Being prohibited by state or federal law from operating a motor vehicle; Being prohibited by state or federal law from possessing firearms or ammunition; Having had a driver license suspension for habitual violator in the last five years; Having been convicted of four or more hazardous traffic violations within the last 12 months; Having been convicted of seven or more hazardous traffic violations within the last 24 months; Currently on probation for any traffic offense; Having been adjudged a delinquent child within the last 10 years; Having sold, manufactured, distributed or cultivated illegal drugs, including marijuana; Having committed theft(s) while in a position of trust or in a pattern that shows habitual theft; Having a history of illegal drug use that tends to establish a pattern above that of experimental drug use; Having committed sufficient criminal activities to establish a pattern of disregard for the law; Having committed any crime of a serious or aggravated nature including, but not limited to, criminal homicide, kidnapping, sexual assault, sexual assault of a child, indecency with a child, incest, felony assault; Having been involved with seditious movements, terrorist activities, or any efforts to violently overthrow the United States government; Having been convicted of the offense of barratry; and The applicant's driver license has been suspended for refusal to submit to a chemical test within the last ten years; or Other indications of criminal history will be individually evaluated.

Isn't it also 'bout damn time we woke up to modern slavery and human trafficking? Why is it that we don't like what Hernandez is accused of doing but close our eyes to all the rest? Why the selective outrage? Why is it that the pimp lifestyle is glorified in popular culture?

"Fighting modern slavery and human trafficking is a shared responsibility. This month, I urge all Americans to educate themselves about all forms of modern slavery and the signs and consequences of human trafficking. Together, we can and must end this most serious, ongoing criminal civil rights violation."

That third Rif'ed from TYC, after being kicked out of the military and then the wife losing faith, even with you worthless psychology /crap degree, can't save the day. Close the door and pull the ......r.

Does The museum in Gatesville show pictures of the graves of the little boys? The Gatesville TYC facilities where turned over to hide two sorry secrets what we did to kids in this state and what we are doing today to women in this state. The abuse was shifted to the women past, present and future. I am willing to bet there are graves of women down there some where.

SO IT'S LIKE THAT MOVIE "HOLES," where the kids are locked away and the administrators do whatever they want, no oversight? See, the "HOLES," were not the ones the kids were forced to dig, looking for treasure. The "HOLES" were the people in charge, milking the system---who themselves should have been in jail. So it's not just Harris Co. where there is no justice? We're just another microcosm??

There is a cemetery where the new hwy 36 goes around the city of Gatesville, and cuts across the crest of the hills behind Sycamore school. Its where we dug cliché to work off extra duty while in lockup. The state hwy connects into the original hwy 36 where the road to Mountain View T’s off. Boot Hill cemetery is on the right just before you get to the Mountain View turn off. The Boot Hill Cemetery is enclosed by a rock wall with a rock archway at the gate. It’s the same rock stone work you see along the original hwy 36 or State School Road as you drive through the facility. Boot Hill Cemetery is where the boys who died during small pox outbreak in the early 1900’s are buried. Some of the names of the boys in the graves were recorded in a report.

For many reasons its down right creepy driving down that road that divides Hilltop the white school from Live Oak the black school. On the Live Oak side you’ll see an old white plantation style home, old dorms like at Hilltop and the newer red bricked buildings of Riverside school. Separate and sort of equal. Across from Riverside school is reception center and as you pull away from the facility Valley school where the younger boys were kept. Hackberry and Terrace were back a ways from Reception Center.It was rumored that the site for Hackberry was chosen to build over unmarked graves of boys who didn’t come back from a run, but were never heard of again. I have been told by a black man who was in Gatesville during the 50’s that his buddy was on a grave digging detail on the other side of the river below Live Oak and Riverside schools. It was common knowledge that the black boys were buried there when they mysteriously disappeared. I have corresponded with a man who was there in the 40’s who is aware of a boy being buried around the horse barn. That was a structure that moved around a lot over its history. We were always told about the spooks on the other side of the river and the ghost in the hills. And yes, on runs where I managed to lose the dogs it was real creepy out in the woods at night. Boys and staff throughout the decades told stories about seeing ghost. And now the ladies today tell stories about The Little Boys.Anonymous 6:08 Its quit possible TDC got one in but I don’t know of any women buried in unmarked graves. The tears of mothers have soaked those grounds for 90 years before the ladies moved in.. TDC taking over that place was odd to say the least and its sure gone downhill. John, Gatesville is the birth place of state sponsored child abuse. I’ve seen holes, Gatesville wasn’t that nice. We had the racial tension of desegregation. Drive down State School Road or anywhere near that place, and if you’re spiritually tuned, you’ll pick up on the evil that spewed forth that birth stool we call tyc today. The souls of The Little Boys cry out for justice.Sheldon tyc#47333 II c/sMVSSB,GSSB,Ftyc

If you ride into that valley in Gatesvile today you can feel the evile all around. Go visit a woman there and you can fell a certain evil. The mentality of the guards down there today have not change. I am willing to bet my life there are women that have not only disappeared down there but are buried there also. That place give me the same evil feeling I got once at a concertration camp in West Germany back in the 1980's and those guards today are just as evil.

The wealth of Gatesville was built on the backs of child slave labor curtasy of TYC. It is a county whose life blood depended on the abuse of children. Other towns wanted in on that, well they got it. From physical abuse to sexual abuse with a clear dividing line when the state hired employess based on afirmitive action. TYC traded a group of dumb abusive peckerwoods for group sex feind minorotys. Wonder why government is costly and lazy.

Convict 2 and call it done! What about Lidia Barnard and the rest of the cover-up crew. What happened to the Superintendent at Marlin who was arrested for false statements to a ranger about the sex scandal? I hear he is working at Texas State Technical College at Waco with young people. Jay Kimbrough did a stellar job of taking the focus off of Gov. Perry. Politicians do not care a rat's rear end about honor, truth, morals, or the people of Texas. If you don't believe that, then take a close look how the TYC situation was handled by the Austin crowd.

Texas is only good for a wealthy man. Women and children are seen as low lifes especially by our elected leaders. Institutions in the state of Texas will only do the right thing for the rich and crooked of course. Women who just happen to be in a positions where they could make a difference are too stupid to do the right thing. Elected leaders and wardens (women) who are in charge are the worst ones for participating in state sponsered abused against women and children.

Couple of things.“Texas is only good for a wealthy man.” that’s only partially true, Texas is only good for wealthy WHITE men. I mean let’s be honest here people. Texas fought not 1 but 2 wars to keep their slaves. Texas likes to keep their slaves locked up, some dressed in neatly pressed uniforms and some not. It is what it is in spite of pop cultureWhat’s all this interest in the unmarked graves at Gatesville, and how Coryell county’s wealth being built on the blood of children? Don’t get me wrong I’m glad to hear people talking about that inbreed county of orphan and widow abusers just wondering where its coming from. Where are all the anonymous tyc trolls defending the practice of state sponsored pedophilia? Did someone decide they needed to save money so the tyc emps are not allowed to power up the states computers anymore?What about that person who’s putting together that pedophiles of tyc database for public view? Is that out there already and that’s why the anonymous trolls are aren’t defending tyc’s latest poster chester?

I don’t think it’s right to say females or any other non white male human is inferior. Equality is a relative thing based on the group and its relative attributes. I think the most disturbing thing about the matrons at today’s tyc is that they dress for work as if they are dressing for the club on Saturday night. The matrons in tyc's Gatesville dressed very modestly so as not to provoke us horny teenage boys. I visit some of today’s tyc units and wonder if these poor female tyc employees have a second job hookin. I would also include the tyc men who act like women in this too. That’s another thing, back in the day, a feminine male staff would not have lasted in tyc Gatesville. Brownwood yea but not Gatesville. It’s like the data shows, the government in the 80’s forced the state to hire from a very sexually deviant culture. This is what you get hookers working a day job, flaming males holding a dorm, and tyc employees getting prosecuted for pedophilic acts. Unthinkable 40 years ago in tyc’s Gatesville State School for Boys.

At TYC the hoochie mama dress code of some female staff is ignored and tolerated. The majority of females working for TYC are sensible but the responsible ones ignore the behavior of their sisters. The cameras have cut down on some of their action so now they just flirt and keep up their little secret romances. They seem to enjoy inflaming an already volatile situation. Do some staff have a reason for seeking to be with these young male criminals? Duh!

Move on and forget tyc. Well that’s what tyc has said to investigators for 120+years. I’m sure the most guilty pedophile would vehemently defend tyc and tell people like me to move on. But think about it; why on earth would anyone who has been to tyc, let alone someone in my position want to think about tyc, let alone shout it from the roof tops. And NOT anonymously btw. Up until about 5 years ago I was embarrassed having spent my high school years in tyc. The circle I have run in most of my adult life can hardly believe I went to tyc, let alone my parents allowing that to happen. I personally may have thought tyc was a joke but I’m in a very small percentile. Fact is tyc is a horrible place. I can only imagine the helplessness a family without the ways and means might feel having their little Juan/Johnny/Jyron getting railroaded to the state house of pedophilia. And for the most part its families without the ways and means whose children get railroaded to tyc.So to you people, you guilty schmucks, who defend the pedophilic life style of your state sponsored child abuse. I have already moved on about 30 years ago, and now I have moved back as an advocate for these orphans and widows that you people through your collective culture make worst. It was 5 years ago when I heard tyc was in a scandal, not for killing a kid, but for having sex with a kid. I thought, what the hell happened to tyc that they would cover up widespread pedophilia? I found out fairly easy by piecing together various legislative reports and newspaper articles over a 40 year time line. The cultureal shift from physical to sexual abuse was pretty obvious. To be published soon.I will tell anyone who will listen about the horrors of tyc, kids, community leaders, politicians, who ever. I’m getting other tyc alumni to tell their stories too. If its saves one kid from going to tyc, if one community leader does something to move closer to abolishing tyc, if I can help one tyc employee find a better job, it’s worth a lifetime of speaking out against tyc.I have said this before, I will be happy to meet face to face with anyone to discuss my position on tyc. I would especially like to meet face to face with “guilty schmucks, who defend the pedophilic life style of their state sponsored child abuse”.To be continuedSheldon tyc#47333MVSSB,GSSB,Ftyc

Way to go Sheldon!! Keep it up!! I am advocating against the abuse of not only yesterday against the kids but today against the women in Gatesville today. Those guards and people running Gatesville today are just as big of perverts, rapist and sexual deviants as they have been down there for 140 plus years now. Staff sexual assaults occur down there as I write this. As soon as the sun goes down it gets worst but they use those showers and closets down there today just like they did so many years ago. Day time or night time those women are in danger!!!

IMO, the stigma attached to TYC because of those two administrators will never be lived down. It is sad for those who really care for the youth and go above and beyond to ensure the youth are treated with dignity and respect. Yes, there are good people working for the agency not all of the are schmucks.

However, the agency as a whole, has lost the public's trust; as resonated in these postings for the last 6/7 years. The trial in Lubbock and its publicity is enforcing the negative culture of TYC, once again. Lets hope justice does prevail so that some can move on.

Probably nothing! The prison staff will not let him talk to anyone down there that is not scared of being retaliated against and believe me they do retaliate. The grievance system does not work and the house never loses. If he went down there he would be shown a bible thumping program and more smoking mirrors. But what does he care he takes money from private prison companies. Do you know how many women down there for non-violent offenses will serve there whole sentance because the parole board is so corrupt.

I said I felt empathy about you employees and would stop bashing you people individually. I’m not letting up on tyc culture and the atrocities committed against the kids who come to tyc for help. Anytime you want to get together and talk about my stance on tyc, I’m open. I won’t tell who you are so you can keep hiding behind your anonymity 5:42. Perhaps I can rescue you out of tyc bondage.Sheldon tyc#47333 II c/s

556...YOU are part of the TYC problem. You pretend that onlt TWO were involved in abuse of youth. Everyone knows there were many more staffers involved in youth abuse that were allowed to walk away from justice. It is still there in the current 'reformed TYC', you and everyone knows it. Getting these of these TWO doesn't rid of the abusers of children. Many have covered for these abusers and turned the 'blind eye'. Now some under the oath, are forced to tell the truth, which before denied any knowledge of youth abuse. Many youth abusers are out there. Sleep well, and hope you are not caught; friends of the TWO.

Somewhat true the previous poster. Much like the German people, many knew the NAZI were burning people but chose to look away and avoid the terror. TYC employees also knew of major youth abuses yet chose to look away and avoid involvement. Now they must live with their own inner terror of deceivement and failure in their own lives. One reaps what one plants. To watch evil and look away is the same as to be the evil itself.

And the same thing is still going on in Gatesville today except it is now women who are the targets of so many and the ones who say the are not in that bunch, do not know, do not see or it is not true are just as guilty as the ones doing it.

It sounds like both of you are employed with TYC. I'm not. I was commenting on what I've deduced from the reporting in the local media and the comments made on this blog. However, I would like to know who this "every knows" is and if you both have reported the abuses to the proper law enforcement agency?

I do sleep well and when facing my maker, I will be able to look him in the eye. Thanks for the concern.

I would like to add that these same crimes are happening at both Plane State and Lane Murray Units every day also. There are cases noted by People Against Prison Abuses of guards instigated gladiator style fights in the dorms and on the field squads. I know I witness this at both units but no one believe an ex-offender like me.

My daughter is at the Hill Top Unit and it is both a safety and health hazard. She works in the Garment sewing factory. It sounds like what you see in the old movies of sweet shops at the turn of the 20th century. The guards stand around and yell, scream, curse and call them names all day long. How can some one be rehabilitated under theses circumstances? Calling people names by other adults seems kind of childess to me. What scares me the most are what I here about the abuses there also committed by the staff. Some are scared to sleep at night because of what happens.

As a former TYC employee, I can tell you that all the units have cover-ups. Crockett, Al Price, and Corsicana are the worst. When is someone going to check on these facilities???? They need to be closed. Who is watching???? Who is listening???? Even when incidences are reported, nothing happens. I saw JCO's and educators flirting with the boys, some seemed romatically involved. When is this madness going to stop?? Anyone ever check the security records? Probably not,becuase they are a farse...mostly lies because they don't the legislature to know how many kids are really going to security. WAKE UP, these units are horrilbe for employees as well as the kids.

9:36pm: You must be in error. TYC is too efficient to have these type problems. Just ask their management. Haven't had any problems for years. Ask any current TYC employees. Probably all a misunderstanding.

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